Insanity Chapter 3

“Mal are you sure about this? I asked as I finally made it to the top of the building.

“Just jump you wimp!” Malik yelled at me from the building across from where I was standing. “We don’t have all day!”

“Shut it!” yelled my older brother as he punched Malik in the shoulder. “Don’t worry about it Cal. These building’s are so close together that you don’t have to worry about falling. It’s no bigger than jumping over the gaps at the canal!”

“Okay,” I said as I slowly made my way over to the edge. I looked down and saw that if I dropped from here then I probably wouldn’t make it. But Mal was right. I shouldn’t have a problem jumping a gap this big.

I took a few steps back and set off with a running start. When I reached the other side I lost my balance, but Mal was able to grab my arm, and keep me from falling.

“Thanks,” I said to him.”

“Don’t mention it, but we have to keep moving. The longer we waste time up here the higher the chance that we’ll lose our window. Come on let’s go!”

From there it was the same thing as before, but this time the others weren’t waiting for me to catch up. I moved as fast as I could, but in the end when they finally stopped they were already three roofs ahead of me.

“Huff, huff,… I made it.” When I reached them I took a moment to take a breather. “Good job kid,” said Jessica, as she handed me a bottle of water from here bag.

“From here things get a bit more exciting,” said Cal. He pointed to the building across from us. “That right there is our target. Based on the intel I got from Felix, this place is owned a person with ties to the upper-level aristocrats.”

“Anyone who has ties with them should be caring some expensive goods. Luckily for use he’s not in the city right now. Something to do with business or whatever. It’s an easy grab and go job.”

“Easy is right, said Malik. “Don’t mess this up kid.”

“Malik enough already!” yelled Mal. “Cal won’t cause us any problems. One more word and I’ll make you remember why you guys put me in charge.”

“Jeez, I was just giving him a little warning. I didn’t mean anything by it. Come on let’s get this over already.”

As we made our way to the next building Mal picked the lock to the terrace. Once he made sure that the coast was clear we followed after him.

The place itself was beautiful. Never before had I seen a house that looked this clean. The walls were covered with painting and other expensive art. The room was filled with what looked like brand-new furniture, and it was even bigger than our entire house back in the slums.

“Okay,” said Mal as he handed everyone a bag. “Take anything that looks expensive. No matter what we can’t come back empty handed. Jessica, keep an eye on the front door. If you hear any movement from outside tell us immediately.”

“If we’re found the entire imperial guard will chase after us. If that happens we’ll most likely be caught.”

“Calm down Mal,” said Malik. “This isn’t the first job we’ve pulled; we know the routine.” “I’m not saying it for you, I’m saying it for Cal.”

Mal knelt down next to me and put his hand on my shoulder. “Don’t worry, everything will be fine as long as you remember what I taught you. Also if you find something you like don’t be afraid to keep it for yourself.”

“Mal I-” “It’s fine, the chances of us getting caught are slim. I promise. Now go check out some of the other rooms and find us some good loot.”

I went off into the next room as Mal suggested and I found that it was a kitchen! I began to rummage through the cupboards and drawers to find what looked like silver-plated silverware. I stuffed them into the bag as fast as I could, but then my eyes drifted towards something that I never thought I’d see again.

In front of me sitting on the kitchen table was a cake covered in frosting! I placed my bag down on the ground and  ran over to the table. When I climb up I dug my hands into the cake and began eating. It tasted so sweat that I couldn’t help myself and I began to shove more of it into my mouth.

“Hey!” Malik cam into the kitchen and slammed hos hand down on the table to get my attention.

“Stop stuffing your face and get back to work. We don’t have the time to waste.” “Sorry,” I said while swallowing the remaining piece of cake that I was eating.

“Go check the room in the far back. See if you can’t find anything useful in there.” “Okay,” I said back to him as I hoped down from the table and ran over to were my bag was. I picked it up and headed down the hall to the room that Malik mentioned.

The door looked different from the ones that I saw before. Unlike the bright demeanor of this place, this door was pitch black. I felt a cold chill go down my spine as I opened the door.

The room was a complete mess. Papers and books littered the floors and the place smelled was than the slums. I held my nose as I looked around. Multiple tables were scattered across the room and each one of them were covered with papers and what looked like beakers with colorful liquids inside of them.

As I looked around the room I couldn’t find anything that looked like it would be of value. Though when I looked underneath one of the table’s at the far back of the room I found that there was a small red box, no bigger than my head.

I pulled it out from underneath the table and got a better look at it. There was a small lock on the front of the box, so I couldn’t open it, but Mal told me if I found something that was locked up that mean that there was at least worth something inside of it.

I shoved into it the bag, and I was about to leave the room when I saw that one of the beakers had changed colors. I climbed up onto the chair next to the table and looked at the beakers and papers scattered around.

Unfortunately I couldn’t understand much that was written on the papers. People in the slums usually don’t get the chance to learn how to read and right, but Xavier had taught us enough to survive. Though I couldn’t understand what this guy was writing here.

There was some random nonsense about turning coal into gold, and that was about all I could understand. Though I couldn’t even begin to figure out what was meant by it. What I was mainly interested was how the color in the beaker changed so suddenly.

I looked at the red color liquid inside the beaker and sighed. No matter how long I looked at it nothing happened. I guess I must have been seeing things. Though messing around with this stuff couldn’t hurt right?

I picked up a beaker with blue liquid inside of it and poured it into the one in front of me. The color inside the liquid changed to purple, but then a second latter it changed back to the color red.

Confused I tried the same thing once more, but with a beaker filled with dark brown liquid. Once again the color of the liquid in the beaker changed, but then it turned back to red again.

“This has to be some kind of trick right?” I said to myself.

“Cal what the heck are you doing?” asked Mal as he walked in. “I called your name three times already. What the heck are you doing back here?”

“Mal check this out,” I said as I tried to pour another color into to the beaker. “Stop that,” Mal said as he grabbed my hand.

“What? I was just trying to show you something cool.” “Cal, out that thing down now, you have no idea what you’re messing with. This entire room is filled with materials and equipment for alchemy!”

“Alchemy?” “I don’t have time to explain it to you. You’re lucky that you didn’t blow all of us up with this little stunt of yours!”

“I’m sorry, I just thought that it was interesting. I didn’t mean to,” I said quietly. “Next time don’t! Out here when we aren’t home you have to listen to me without fail. If I tell you to do something, you do it. If I don’t give you permission to do something regardless of if you ask me or not, don’t do it.”

“But-” “There are no buts, now come on, we got what we needed, it’s time to go.”

“I’m afraid not.” Mal and I turned around to see that the was a mysterious man behind us who wasn’t there before. “The two of you aren’t going anywhere.”